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Sunday, May 20, 2012

For this Version of Author Monday, we welcome author Wendy Ely. Thanks for joining us, Wendy!

Writing Dreaming of Him!

I usually don't like paranormal anything. I don't watch paranormal anything and the genre itself scares the crap out of me. The whole ghost subject freaks me out. I believe in spirits but if something odd happens in my home I go into total denial or we will be packing our stuff. I do have a fourteen year old daughter who has a darker personality than I do. She is a paranormal and horror buff. She also writes novels already. After she finished writing her first book at age twelve she decided that maybe we should write a book together.

We set out plotting Dreaming of Him. We agreed that we'd both write it but I'd do a lot of the romance in the book because the thought of romance made her want to gag. After we plotted most of the book, I wrote the opening scene and had her read it. "Mom," she had said, "I love it, but you need to write the whole thing." She decided that her talents weren't as good as mine (she is wrong!) and couldn't write with me.

Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) was coming up and I figured that writing Dreaming of Him would be the perfect project to do in that month and an awesome gift for my daughter. I accomplished the task of writing the novella in one month (surprising since I know nothing of the genre!), edited it, and had a contract from my publisher shortly after.

Here is the opening scene of the book:

I stood by the lake’s edge and tossed a rock, trying to make it skip across the water as my father had once taught me when I was a little girl. My lips twisted in a frown as the rock plopped against the water and quickly sank. Obviously, rock skipping could be added to my list of failures.

“Hey.” The sudden sound of a deep voice cutting through the silence should’ve startledme, but it didn’t at all.

Curious, I turned toward the sound.

He stood there with a strand of dark hair falling down against his tanned forehead. Hebrushed it back and smiled, revealing a brilliant set of teeth.

“Have we met before?” I asked, trying to place him from somewhere.

Instead of answering, he stepped next to me. “Let me show you how to do that.” Hepicked up a rock and twisted his wrist just right, sending the rock skipping across the water. Once the rock sank, he turned to me again. His dark eyes stared into mine as he slid his finger down my cheek.

“Amber--”

The blaring alarm pulled me from my dream, jerking me straight up in bed. Theobnoxious sound came from a little blue box sitting on my dresser, set far away from my bed to force me up from the comfort. I groaned as the day’s reality set in. The manager of Rich Chick expected me to be there for work in an hour. I hated not only the annoying beep-beep that ripped me from my dream, but also knowing that I’d be behind a counter pretending to be someone different. Then again, I hated most everything about my life. I glanced over to the bottle of prescription pills on my dresser. Should I go another day pretending everything was fine without taking the mood-altering drug people swore by? I shook my head at the notion. No more pills. Not today. Not ever again.

@WendyElyAuthor

1 comment:

I don't usually enjoy paranormal stories either, but after reading Tori's book Superstition, and another book called veiled eyes, I think I've changed my mind. It also depends on hoe paranormal or how out there story is I guess. Your intro here makes me want to read your book as well. There was nothing paranormal I read so far, but it has piqued my interest and want to read more. Did your daughter give you any suggestions for the book though?

Ask David

Story Finds

Just Contemporary Romance

About My Books

Wild child Lacy Fitzgerald may have made one bet too many. This time, the stakes are her trust fund, her freedom, and even her single status. To win, she must take her father's seed money and create a successful lingerie company in one year, and she must do it on her own. Six months into it, out of money and deeply in debt, she hires a handsome hunk to make her catalog sizzle and her sales soar.

But far from being a typical lingerie model, there's more to Gabriel Wallace than meets her eyes or her hands. Gabe isn't a down-on-his-luck construction worker standing in the unemployment line. He's not broke and desperate for any job, even one that has him posing in nothing but skin and his shorts. And he's most definitely not the kind of guy who wears skintight, heart-speckled silk briefs under his rugged jeans.

But for the chance to spend time with Lacy, Gabe will do almost anything. Anything, that is, except tell her who he really is.

To My Readers:Double Exposure is a story very dear to my heart. Lacy and Gabe deserve each other, but parental interference threatens their chance at happiness. How many of us have had the same experience? I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Desperate to break away from her overbearing mother and holier-than-thou sister, Cassie Mills takes on a moonlighting job she'd never have considered otherwise. But she needs money, and she needs it now.

Cassie runs afoul of an outdated and rarely enforced law when she decides to host Pleasure Parties. Reed Stevens is working undercover on the vice squad, not his favorite assignment, especially when he's assigned to what he considers fluff duty, cracking down on the home party sex toy business.

Cassie faces her greatest fear--what will her mother think?--and her aunt's Bridge Club. Reed faces a jealous and unstable partner, his ex-wife and her new love, and the wrath of Cassie's supporters. Neither one is prepared for the day when their professional paths cross. Shock, feelings of betrayal, lust, and love all intermingle until neither one is sure who is right and who is wrong.

Caramia Kensington makes a living setting up seduction scenes for rich playboys. Imagine her surprise when her current customer turns out to be her old high school flame, Grayson Montgomery. And the woman he plans to seduce is Cara.

Cara refused to have sex with Gray when they were fifteen. She had plans and dreams for her life, and they didn't include risking an unplanned pregnancy. She made him a promise: if they were both still single at thirty, she'd have sex with him. And the next day is her thirtieth birthday.

Gray plans to collect on that promise Cara made back in high school. But his plans don't end with one night. Somehow he has to convince her he has staying power, that he will still be there in the morning, and for the rest of her life. Not an easy task when Cara has been left by every man in her life so far.

Regina Baker has loved Sam Hyatt since the third grade, but Sam has an ideal woman in mind, and Reggie doesn't even come close. As the heir to a sizable fortune, Sam has a responsibility to marry well. His wife needs to be well bred, well educated, and well heeled. As a poor preacher's daughter with a landscaping business that barely pays the bills, Reggie feels like a mangy mutt compared to Sam's current girlfriend, who has a pedigree a mile long.

Their matchmaking friends, Cara and Gray, arrange for Sam and Reggie to join them on a two week cruise, where Sam will have a chance to see what he's been missing without the society trappings he's normally surrounded by, and Reggie will have two weeks to win Sam's heart.

Judge Madelyn Cooper never shows signs of weakness, but when a killer threatens her daughter's life, Maddie does what any mother would do. Run to the place where her daughter will be safe. And that place is Greendale, Texas. Maddie left Greendale fourteen years earlier, pregnant, broke, and without saying a word to Rand McCade. What could she say after her father killed his parents?

Rand McCade is determined to keep Greendale safe. As Sheriff, he promised there would be no repeats of the horrible day when his parents were murdered. Now Maddie is back, bringing trouble with her once again. And this time, she has a daughter. His daughter.

As a psychopath sets his sights on Maddie, Rand and Maddie must figure out who is after her, and why, before someone else ends up dead.

Logan Tanner shook the red dust of West Texas off his boots at the age of eighteen and hasn't looked back. When his father has a stroke, Logan is temporarily forced to return home and take over the family ranch. He still feels responsible for his mother's death when he was twelve, and has never gotten over the guilt. Now he's faced with having to protect his twelve year old daughter Katie and his sister and her friend Megan Flynn. It's nearly more than one man can handle. He can't wait to get back to Dallas.

Megan Flynn immediately falls in love with Morris Springs, Texas, population 976, when she delivers Logan's runaway daughter to his doorstep. Raised as a city girl, Megan has a dream of a few acres, a few champion Blue Heelers, and a small-town veterinary practice. The only thing standing between her and her dream is one stubborn, reluctant cowboy with an overprotective streak as wide as the West Texas prairie. But her stubborn streak is a match for his any day. And she's determined to prove it.

Blame it on Texas is a story of the power of love to overcome any adversity, the strength of family and friendship, and the joy that comes with being part of something bigger than yourself.

From the softer side of Tori Scott, a story of two single parents brought together by a shared accident, a teenager with an attitude, and a little girl who steals everyone's hearts.

Sandy Morrow's four year old daughter is hit by an SUV as she's riding her tricycle down the sidewalk near her home. Her new next door neighbors, Hunter Thurman and his son Jason, had been arguing just before Jason jumped in the vehicle and took off without looking behind him. Now her daughter has a concussion and a broken leg,and Sandy has a sexy neighbor who will stop at nothing to make it up to her.Whether she wants him to or not.

Hunter Thurman has a mission: to fix the mess his son has made and to fix the mess he's made of his son's life. He is determined to take care of his next door neighbor and her daughter after the accident, but Sandy is independent and determined to take care of herself, insisting she doesn't need Hunter's help.

This book is dedicated to the men and women who leave homes and families to defend their country and champion freedom across the globe. You have our everlasting gratitude and we pray for your safety.

About Me

Award winning, Amazon best-selling author Tori Scott lives in East Texas with her husband Tony and her dog Blue. When she's not writing, you might find her taking pictures of random things or hanging out on Facebook or Twitter.